


Soft Spot

by jaws_3



Series: Secret Agent AU [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Getting Together, Hayner and Rai are bros and it's cute, Hayner finally clues in, Hayner is an oblivious idiot and Seifer is surprisingly patient, M/M, Roxas is tired of Hayner's stupidity but he loves him, Some violence but nothing explicit, secret agent AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 04:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16442639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaws_3/pseuds/jaws_3
Summary: Everyone seems to think Seifer has a soft spot for Hayner, prompting him to investigate. He makes several revelations.





	Soft Spot

**Author's Note:**

> the third instalment!! Hayner does get jumped a couple times in this, and there's a bar brawl, but it's nothing too graphic. More discussion of the wounds than anything. There is also a vague mention of a choking, just in case you can't do that at all!

According to nearly every single one of Hayner’s friends, and even some of his not friends like Fuu and sorta friend more like acquaintances like Vivi, Seifer lets him get away with a lot. Hayner, understandably, finds the very idea absolutely ridiculous. Seifer never lets him get away with anything. But, after the eighth person rolling their eyes when he tries to deny it, he has to wonder if maybe they’re onto something. 

They’re currently crammed into Seifer’s truck waiting for some drug runner and Hayner has spent the last fifteen minutes staring Seifer down from the passenger seat. (Seifer always demanded he drove, the asshole.) Though it’s dark, Hayner can still make out the finer details of the man’s face, aided by the soft orange glow of a nearby streetlamp, and he’s vaguely startled at how much Seifer has changed over the years. He’s known the man since they were toddlers, and sometimes he can still see the indignant four year old huffing at Hayner to hand over his action figure. 

Hayner’s not sure how long he’s been staring, too tangled in his thoughts and still trying detangle the mess of information his friends have been giving him to pay attention. Seifer’s been paying attention, however, and eventually he gets annoyed with it. 

“What do you want, Chickenwuss?” He asks, fingers tapping out some unknown tune on his knee, face still focused forward on the dimly lit street. 

“Nothing.” Hayner replies after a brief moment, gaze unbroken. It’s not quite true, but Hayner’s also not quite sure what he wants just yet, so it’s better to lie. “Just thinking.”

“Anything you care to share?” Seifer asks, posture relaxed as he leans farther back into the driver’s seat. 

Hayner narrows his eyes. Not in annoyance, but simple contemplation. 

“Do you…” A pause. Seifer shifts gaze over to him just to raise a brow. “No. Not yet, anyways.” 

Seifer rolls his eyes, mumbling a low, “Whatever.” before turning back to watch for their target.

Hayner continues to stare, still trying to sort everything out, until Seifer gets  _ really _ annoyed with him and swings his left hand wide to smack Hayner in the face, his eyes still facing forward. Hayner responds with an indignant squawk that Seifer smirks at. 

The truck’s cab is quickly filled with quiet hisses and grumbles that die down when Seifer finally spots their target, and the two of them immediately fall into their training. It’s only several hours later that Hayner is given time to go back to his original thoughts. While he still doesn’t believe that Seifer held any sort of “soft spot” for him - he  _ can’t _ \- Hayner also has the bad habit of storming forward when anything catches his attention. If Seifer  _ did _ have a soft spot for him, Hayner wants to know why and what this means he could get away with. If Seifer  _ didn’t, _ Hayner needs to know why everyone thought the bastard  _ did _ .

First thing, however, he needs a… what’s the word? A frame of reference. 

Time to investigate.

* * *

“What does Seifer let me do that he wouldn’t let you do?” Hayner asks his first target, Roxas, who just gives a low groan as he begins to sort through his desk, already tired of the conversation.

“I don’t know, Hayner, he just… He just doesn’t treat me the same way he does you.” Roxas explains, exasperated. Hayner frowns, thinking the reply is quite weak as Roxas didn’t have to work with the asshole every minute of the day so of  _ course _ he’s treated different. Hayner and Seifer also went farther back than Roxas did, Roxas not joining their town until late middle school. “Even when we were kids, he was always different with you. You could like.. get him to do stuff.” 

“Like  _ what _ ?” Hayner asks incredulously, turning away from the plastic plant he had been fiddling with. Seifer had never wanted to cooperate with him, especially as kids. Double especially when they were teenagers, which is probably what Roxas had meant.

“Well,” Roxas frowns now, thoughtful. “Remember when I had that weird stalker in high school? You were the one who got Seifer to help with that. He’s the only reason we caught the guy.” 

Hayner tilts his head back in thought, the memory slowly forming itself in his brain. He does remember actually, and he’s annoyed when the memory reminds him that it actually hadn’t taken much to get Seifer to help them with that. A couple please’s, a quick explanation, and a half assed bow and Seifer was talking about how he didn’t like creeps his town anyways before whacking Hayner’s shoulder, telling him to get his ass moving and show him where the dude was. 

“That was..” Hayner still tries to argue. “Different. Seifer’s always been weirdly protective of the town.”

Roxas has his back to him now but Hayner’s still a hundred percent sure his friend is rolling his eyes.

“Okay. Sure. What about when you got Seifer to train you for the Struggle tournament?” He counters, organizing the papers in front of him. (Hayner’s not sure what Roxas does, something about an Organization, but he doesn’t feel bad as he’s pretty sure Roxas doesn’t know either.) 

“The bastard just beat me up!” Hayner shouts back, scandalized. He nearly broke his wrist three separate times and actually bruised his ribs on multiple occasions during those little “training sessions”.

“Is that why you came back to the Usual Spot every day spouting some new “Seifer verse” like, ‘Seifer says I drop my defence too much’ or ‘Seifer says I need to release my elbow to get more power’?” Roxas asks, finally turning back to face him, an amused look on his face.

“He…!” Hayner starts, before  _ those _ memories also come filing in and he’s left to weakly stutter over his next few syllables. 

“He was still a dick about it.” He grumbles finally, sulking. Roxas gives him a vague uh-huh before ignoring him for the rest of Hayner’s visit, which Hayner thinks is very rude, so he decides to avoid filling Roxas in on the one time Seifer helped bandage Hayner’s ribs up after a particularly rough session and how Hayner had been grateful he was red faced from exertion because the unbidden thought of  _ he can be so soft when he wants to  _ had come up a lot at that time.

Hayner also leaves without saying goodbye, but Roxas later texts him about meeting for ice cream and when he doesn’t argue Hayner texting  _ u buy,  _ Hayner decides he can forgive him. 

* * *

Hayner sets out for his next target, Fuu, the day after, but when he actually runs into her, he flounders, not quite sure how to phrase his question. Panicking, he changes his target and asks for Rai instead which, he belatedly realizes, is probably twice as weird. She doesn’t make too much of a fuss, although one of her red eyes narrow in what Hayner hopes  _ isn’t _ annoyed suspicion before she tells him, rather sternly, “Lab.”

She doesn’t specify which lab, and Hayner has no idea what lab Rai is even allowed in anymore, but he still manages to find the man and awkwardly ask him if he wanted to go for beers sometime. To his great surprise, Rai just stares at him blankly for a couple seconds before loudly laughing and clapping Hayner on the back and  _ agreeing _ . Twice as surprising is Rai going, “You free now? There’s a game on, y’know! Let’s go watch!” and promptly grabbing Hayner’s entire bicep and half hauling him down the hallway.  

“Since when are you and Rai so chummy?” Seifer demands when Hayner returns to their “office” to gather his things for the bar. Hayner tries to scowl, but he knows it probably comes out like a pout.

“Since, like, always, Seifer. What? Am I not allowed to be friends with Rai? You’re so possessive.” Hayner skirts around the question, locked onto the more complicated task of winding his headphones around his cell before attempting to edge around Seifer, who was blocking most of the doorway. Hayner makes sure his eyes are glued to the floor, not having it in him to deal with the piercing scowl he’s sure is present on Seifer’s face.

“Besides, I’m an… adult. And I’m allowed to hang out with whoever I want and that means Rai so if you don’t mind-“ here Hayner has to forcibly remove Seifer’s arm from blocking his path, “I’m off to have a wonderful without you, so, goodbye!”

Hayner makes it makes it the rest of the way to the entrance unscathed and quickly learns how touchy Rai is, the other man dropping a heavy hand on Hayner’s shoulder as he leads him towards the local Blitzball bar. He’s not sure what they’re actually going to talk about, Hayner never got into Blitzball, but he discovers Rai is pretty good at endless chatter. 

“I don’t think it was me, y’know?” Rai says later when Hayner mentions Seifer’s distaste for their hangout. Hayner, however, did  _ not _ know and frowns into his beer to indicate such. “Like, Seifer doesn’t like  _ me  _ hanging out with you, not you hanging out with me. Y’know?” 

Hayner just stares at him, unsure of who is supposed to feel slighted here. Rai goes to better explain himself when some drunk dickweed decides to target him and pull him into a highly unnecessary bar brawl. Hayner being, well, Hayner, refuses to let Rai go in alone and promptly throws himself right into it as well, hardly sparing a thought towards the idea of trying to placate the intoxicated man. 

Rai gets kicked out of the bar with a busted lip and some bruised knuckles. Hayner gets  _ thrown _ from the bar with a black eye, multiple scrapes, and an ankle starting to swell in order to fulfill its own dreams of becoming a damn blitzball itself.

When they show up back at headquarters, it’s Fuu and Seifer who greet them and Hayner nearly runs. Rai doesn’t read the storm brewing on Seifer’s face correctly, however, and throws his arm back around Hayner’s shoulder, holding him in place and shouting, “We won!”

Seifer does not care if they won or not and Hayner is forced to listen to a rather lengthy and annoying lecture on keeping himself safe while Seifer cleans him up. Hayner makes  _ three _ attempts at twisting out of Seifer’s grasp, but the other is having none of it and pinches his arm in warning the last time before growling, “If you don’t stop moving, Chickenwuss, I’m going to punch you out myself.”

Hayner decides to listen, but he swings his legs enough to whack Seifer’s knees twice for good measure. 

Rai later texts him  _ seif got mad at me for getting you hurt _ with a crying emoji that Hayner finds endearing so he texts back  _ he’s just mad we made such a good team _ along with the arm flex emoji. It takes a couple minutes, but Rai returns with a flurry of emojis, including, but not limited to: the arm flex emoji, the laugh-crying emoji, the fist emoji, AND two different heart emojis (that Hayner assumes were mistakes) that seem to indicate the other man agrees with him. 

Hayner makes a point of loudly going, “Maybe I’ll just text Rai if you’re gonna be a dick.” on multiple occasions after this. The scowl Seifer wears after every instance never fails to make him smile. 

* * *

Hayner makes the mistake of mentioning how often Seifer patches him up then next time he and Roxas go out for drinks and Roxas just gives him a  _ look _ . Hayner quickly tries to explain how it’s only because Seifer says he sucks at doing it himself, but it doesn’t seem to help as the look only gets worse until Hayner shies away from it by downing his glass of beer in one go.

“He insults me the whole time.” Hayner says weakly.

“Uh huh.” Roxas replies. Unwilling to understand this wasn’t proof of Seifer’s “spot soft”. 

“I don’t ask him to! He just does it! And he’s always a huge dick about it!”

“Then why do you let him do it?” 

Hayner doesn’t have a good reply. Or any reply, really. Instead, he orders two shots and slams them both. 

* * *

It’s a rare night off a week or so later when Hayner unwillingly encounters his next research target. A group of low level punks trying to make their mark in the “big leagues”. Their target is actually Seifer, whose “tough” reputation is apparently still riding high, but they decide to use Hayner to get to him.

“You’re Almasy’s punk ass boyfriend, right?” The leader asks after blocking the alleyway Hayner had turned down onto. Hayner doesn’t even know how to begin answering that question - he is no one’s punk ass _anything,_ thank you very much - so he doesn’t. “Oh, I know you are. Grab him and get that Almasy asshole on the phone, he’ll definitely come running to save him.” 

Hayner’s not sure how to go about  _ any _ of this, but he’s mostly offended at the implication he would even  _ need _ Seifer to save him, so he drops his grocery bags and makes a hard swing with his right fist, knocking out the first man who tries to grab him. The rest fall pretty easily, but Hayner’s still swearing as he bandages himself up at home. 

The only silver lining he can find is all his new wounds are easily hidden by his clothing, so at least he won’t have to endure any more lectures from his partner. 

(Hayner freezes when he realizes he no longer sees Seifer as the dude he is always unfairly paired up with but as his actual  _ partner _ and all he does with this information is cryptically text Roxas  _ I had a revelation _ at 2 am before shoving his phone to the far side of his bed and ignoring it for the rest of the night.) 

* * *

Hayner makes seven solid attempts at discussing all this information with Olette, but every time he finally figures out how he wants to word his question, Seifer’s voice breaks through on the ear piece, ruining their privacy.

“Seifer!” Hayner huffs one day, finally annoyed enough to address it. “Mommy and Daddy are trying to talk, so go away!” 

There’s a long and uncomfortable silence that follows this that’s only broken when Hayner pipes back in with, “Yeah, I didn’t like it either.” 

It’s never brought up again, thankfully, and Hayner wonders if that’s only because Seifer refuses to let himself call Hayner “Daddy.” 

* * *

“Hey, can I stay at your place?” Hayner asks a couple weeks later, as they make their way to his apartment. Though Seifer always demands he drives and that they use his vehicle, he also always makes sure to drop Hayner off.  

With the distractions of work having been cleared up and all of his attempted interviews having garnered  _ nothing _ , Hayner decides it’s time to take matters into his own hands and find out what exactly it is he can get away with. He knows Seifer is an incredibly private person - Hayner having only just found out where the other even lives about two months ago - so Hayner’s logic is if Seifer  _ did _ have a soft spot for him, surely he would have no objections to an impromptu sleepover. 

“What? No.” Seifer responds immediately, shooting him an irritated look. While Hayner was expecting this response, he hadn’t expected it to be quite so vehement, so he’s rather offended. 

“Why not?” He shouts back, body shifting to face Seifer, who only throws him a deep scowl. 

“Why do you even want to?” Seifer counters, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. They’re four blocks from Hayner’s apartment building, and Hayner half remembers that he needs milk before focusing himself back on the task at hand. 

“Why do I need a reason? We’re…” Hayner doesn’t know how to finish this statement, so he allows himself to trail off a bit before crossing his arms and grumbling, “Fine. Whatever.”

They finish the drive in almost complete silence, the radio hardly more than a whisper. Hayner weakly remembers complaining about how loud Seifer used to play his music when Seifer suddenly slams on his brakes and lets out a low grunt to indicate they have arrived. He then leaves without saying goodbye, and Hayner hates how bothered he is by this.

He’s quickly distracted from this feeling however when the same punks that had tried to  _ kidnap _ him before show up to challenge him again, but this time two of them are swinging bats. 

Twenty minutes later finds Hayner victorious, limping, and nearly seven blocks away from his apartment. The kids aims had been terrible and it only took two swings for Hayner to apprehend one of their bats and get a solid hit on their leader. His twisted ankle is from his running after them and tripping over a trash can hidden in the shadows of the alleyway. While he’s not terribly proud of it, they haven’t come back and he ends up finding a twenty-four hour convenience store that sells milk, so he counts it at a win. 

Seifer notices his limp the next morning, but Hayner pointedly ignores the agitated glower that mars the man’s face for most of the day. 

* * *

Hayner’s sprawled across Seifer’s lap and if he were paying any sort of attention he would realize how weird it is Seifer hasn’t pushed him off yet and that it is definitely a sign of  _ something _ . But Hayner is much too busy desperately trying to figure a way out of the god awful mission they’ve been handed to pay attention to anything else.

(Besides, it’s  _ Hayner’s _ couch. It’s the one he  _ always _ lays on. It’s not his fault Seifer decided to sit on it and get a lap full of Hayner.)

This is the scene Olette walks in on, though Hayner pays her little mind. Seifer acknowledges her, giving her a brief nod before returning his attention to his phone. His arms are folded across his chest and Hayner can feel one of Seifer’s elbows pressing into his hip, but he mostly ignores it. 

“What if,” Hayner starts, jerking up a bit, quite ready to go into a thirty minute spiel on the greatest plan he’s ever conjured. 

“No.” Seifer replies curtly, immediately shooting him down. 

“But…!” Hayner tries again, shifting a bit to try and make eye contact with the other man. He doesn’t doubt Seifer knows what the plan is, but maybe Seifer hasn’t figured out the fine nuances of it. 

“ _ No _ .” Seifer repeats, firmer this time. His attention never wavering from his phone. Hayner just falls back with a pout while Olette hides a soft giggle behind her hand.

“I hate you.”

They do the mission and at one point Hayner ends up dozing on Seifer’s shoulder. He chalks it up to his imagination, but he swears his feels Seifer loop one of his arms around Hayner’s shoulders and run his hand through his hair. 

He decides it was his half asleep brain playing tricks on him. But he then becomes flustered at the idea his brain would conjure up such tricks and avoids Seifer for almost three days before the man slams him into a wall and glowers at him.

Hayner takes the hint. 

* * *

The final piece of the puzzle comes late one night roughly a week later, when Hayner is on his way home after the lengthy mission, ready to do nothing but eat and sleep for 53 hours straight. Looking back, Hayner’s still mostly upset the next incident resulted in him losing a twelve pack of donuts he had been dreaming of for nearly a month.

He’s in the tunnels, donuts in hand, and on the phone with Roxas (who nearly  _ tackles _ him the next time he sees him, much to Hayner and his bruised ribs’ distress) discussing their next video game night when he’s jumped. He’s actually in the middle of forcibly explaining that it’s  _ his _ turn to decide on the game because he won the last tournament they played, which Roxas vehemently disagrees with, claiming Hayner had cheated which caused his for “forfeit” any win (which was garbage, it’s not Hayner’s fault Roxas’ roommate, Axel, slammed in and distracted him) when suddenly there’s a pair of hands grasping at his wrists and everything in his arms is falling to the concrete. Including his phone and his poor, precious donuts. 

“I know you.” A low voice growls in his ear while his arms are pinned behind his back. “You’re with that bullshit company trying to get a handle on the gangs in town, aren’t ya?” 

Hayner doesn’t answer, taking this time to instead assess the situation, counting the shapes emerging from the shadows. He comes to the chilling conclusion there were simply too many people for him to handle alone rather quickly, and that this is most likely going to end with him seriously injured or dead. And he didn’t even to eat  _ one _ measly donut.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hayner hisses back anyways, having never learned how and when to pick his battles, attempting in vain to yank his arms free. The man’s grip tightens and Hayner has to fight off a wince. 

“Don’t get smart with me, boy.” The man snaps as the other men slowly begin to encircle him. “I’m not some teenage punk you can scare off with a stupid bat.” 

There’s a chill that starts to climb up Hayner’s body as he wonders just how long these men have been following him. 

“Now,” the leader says, voice nearly as cold as the ice in Hayner’s veins. He tugs on Hayner’s wrists, forcing him to bend backwards and farther into him, his fingers pressing firmly on Hayner’s pulse. “You’re gonna tell me everything you know, or we’re going to break every bone in your body one by one. Got it?” 

Hayner knows he barely knows enough to satisfy them. He also knows he knows just enough to help them, so he decides on the most logical course of action. 

“Fuck you.” He spits, lashing out with his right foot and landing a solid hit on one of the other men’s kneecaps. 

No one takes it well. 

Three of the men are on him in an instant, and thankfully the man behind him loosens his grip enough that Hayner can pry his wrists free - the man most likely going to try and spin him around to punch Hayner himself - and pull up a defensive stance. While Hayner has always been a street brawler, fighting more through instinct than anything else, he’s quite pleased he’s had enough training that he can make some solid attempts at running away. Not that it matters. Hayner is only so fast, and the men seem to be multiplying at an overwhelming rate.

But that might be the last punch he took to his face blurring his vision. 

Eventually, in the middle of Hayner getting slammed into the alleyway wall, he hears familiar voices cut through the unintelligible chatter and both he and his assailant turn to watch Seifer and the  _ Goddamn _ original Disciplinary Committee come swaggering up like they were seventeen again. Hayner actually finds it funny enough to laugh, until the hand clenching his shirt collar moves up to close around his throat instead.  

His eyes fall closed, he’s too tired for any of this, and while he’s vaguely aware of a variety of threats being made, they’re cut very short by one solid punch. (Seifer’s, he later learns.) Hayner feels the hand release him, and takes in one quick, gasping breath as he opens his eyes to assess the new situation. 

Seifer is at his side, his body screaming for a fight, and Rai and Fuu soon join him, also falling back into their old stances. It’s such an overwhelming sense of deja vu that Hayner has to seriously wonder if he’s gone back to high school.

“Are you all right?” Seifer asks, eyes darting to him only briefly as he slowly edges in front of him, blocking him from the attackers. Hayner just laughs again. And everyone says  _ he _ asks stupid questions. 

“I’m absolutely excellent.” Hayner slurs, falling back to the wall when he tries to straighten up. This brings about a worried frown on Seifer’s face, who moves in closer, perhaps realizing Hayner is more hurt that he thought. When Hayner doesn’t say anything else, Seifer swings his head, indicating to the pair behind him to move ahead without him. 

They don’t need to be told twice.

The men all start to spit out curses as Rai and Fuu close in on them, several of them throwing themselves farther down the alleyway or straight up running away altogether. Hayner is sure Seifer would have loved to go after them, but when Hayner tries again to stand on his own, he starts to sway, forcing Seifer to give a small shout and then catch him when Hayner’s feet decide they can no longer hold him.

“Seifer?” Hayner calls gently, tipping his head back onto Seifer’s shoulder to try and get a better look at the man. He gets a grunted, “What?” in response so Hayner decides to continue, “It’s hard to breathe.” 

Seifer quickly starts swearing while Hayner drags in shaky breaths, his hands slipping under Hayner’s shirt to start pressing along his rib cage. Hayner manages another snicker at this, ignoring the small whimpers that are paired with it. 

He gives a weak, “Hey, hey, buy me a drink first…” but Seifer is unimpressed with his hilarious wit and ignores him. He shifts his grip so he can hold Hayner even tighter, his fingers continuing to move across Hayner’s chest, searching for a break or crack. 

“I could be,” Hayner gasps. “Winded. Last little bit… Kind of a blur.”

Everything is starting to become a bit much for him as well, so Hayner also theorizes he could be having a panic attack. Something he hadn’t dealt with since he first started, but seeing as there had been a  _ lot _ happening, he figures it’s another good guess. That or winded. Or both. The accelerated breathing is beginning to indicate the former, however. 

Seifer swears again and the background sounds coming from Rai and Fuu’s fight begin to smash together. Hayner tries to focus on them to keep himself grounded. He’s not sure he needs Seifer to witness something like this. 

“It doesn’t feel like your ribs are broken.” Seifer’s voice sounds suddenly in his ear, having rearranged himself again. “You’re hopefully just winded, but we’re getting you back to headquarters anyways, okay?” 

The soft, “kay.” that comes out is probably all Seifer needs to realize the severity of the situation. Hayner never liked being forced back to headquarters when injured, mostly because they were so  _ melodramatic _ about everything, but here he has no complaints, too focused on trying to find some semblance of stability in his breath and body. (Neither are coming quickly.)  Seifer lets out several more curses at this, causing Hayner to frown slightly, before slipping one arm under Hayner’s legs and scooping the smaller man up into a princess style hold. 

Hayner’s too startled to argue, his head falling back completely in his shock, so Seifer shifts him, gently, so his head tips forward again, tucked into Seifer’s neck. 

“Rai? Fuu? Are you good? I need to get Hayner back.” Seifer shouts, jerking Hayner back to attention. Hayner can’t seem to focus enough to understand their voices, but they seem to give some sort of affirmative as Seifer quickly sets out for the headquarters after this, his coat billowing slightly in the wind. 

(Hayner can only imagine how majestic Seifer must look at this moment and isn’t as bothered by it as he feels he should be.)

“Seifer?” Hayner calls for him again, voice still too soft. He’s not sure what he wants to say, but decides to figure it out as he goes. He presses forward slightly, just barely able to feel Seifer’s pulse that feels faster than it should. 

“What?” The other man replies, voice hard. 

Hayner’s not sure if Seifer’s anger is directed at him or not, but still decides it’s best to tread carefully. So he says, “I’m sorry.”

There’s a short, stunned pause before Seifer grits out, “For  _ what _ ?”, his strides lengthening as he takes a sharp turn through the tunnels. 

“For… uh… stealing your dessert in summer camp when we were kids.” Hayner’s not sure where this memory has come from, but if he’s going to atone for his sins, he might as well start somewhere. (What if he  _ died _ and Seifer never knew he regretted it? Hayner would have to come back as a ghost and that just sounds like a pain.)

“For…? You’re fucking unbelievable, Chickenwuss.” 

“Mm.” Hayner hums in agreement, though part of him is offended at being referred to by his nickname again. He liked hearing Seifer use his name. 

“I’m also sorry…” Hayner begins again, and Seifer makes a low groaning sound that Hayner ignores. “For calling your beanie stupid that one time. In high school.”

“It was stupid.” Seifer clips back and Hayner recognizes the sandlot where the incident had actually take place over five years ago. 

“Yeah, but you looked really sad when I said it.” There’s a drawn out silence that follows is broken only by Hayner’s breathing, slow, ragged, and repetitive as he tries to ease his heart rate down. Seifer doesn’t speak anymore either, which Hayner finds vaguely concerning. Shouldn’t he being taking this opportunity to either gloat about how  _ he _ would never have lost to such odds, or at  _ least _ insult Hayner for his terrible left hook. Hayner can still just barely feel Seifer’s pulse thrumming under his skin, and it’s still too quick for the calm face he’s wearing, and Hayner has to wonder if maybe he has been wrong about their whole… relationship. Thing.

“Seifer…” Hayners calls one more time, one of his hands beginning to curl into the fabric of Seifer’s shirt. 

“Yeah?” They’re finally nearing headquarters, so Seifer’s voice comes off a little distracted. Hayner uses this to amp up his courage. Maybe if he fucks this up, Seifer won’t actually hear him, or will have the good grace to pretend he didn’t, and Hayner won’t completely ruin whatever weird relationship they created for themselves. 

“What am I to you?” Hayner feels like he’s in a rom-com. Which is a  _ terrible _ feeling because he doesn’t really  _ like _ rom-coms so he’s not exactly happy to be in one. His voice is barely above a whisper, his head is starting to plot his murder, and his heart is about to earn its freedom from his chest. 

Seifer, of course, is an asshole through and through, so he responds, after only a moment’s thought, with the easiest answer.

“You’re Hayner.”

“That’s not an answer.” Hayner replies, annoyed. He  _ knows _ Seifer knows what he’s asking, and he knows the prick is avoiding it. 

“Figure it out yourself.” Seifer tells him shortly, his gaze now focused on HQ’s entrance. Hayner feels himself being jostled and lets out a low hiss, which causes Seifer to loosen his hold and rearrange him in his arms so the remaining stairs are a little easier.

Hayner still grumbles out, “You’re such an ass.” But he presses himself in closer, his hands also tightening their grip.

It turns out Hayner  _ is _ only winded. Slightly bruised. And mildly concussed. But, having successfully fought off his panic attack, and Olette’s incessant worry, he’s given a clean bill of health within the hour and told he could go home. When he does leave, Seifer is waiting for him and Hayner’s not even surprised anymore. 

Rai and Fuu also greet them at the entrance, handing Hayner back his phone, which is somehow  _ not  _ broken - though it’s crowded with a multitude of texts and missed calls from Roxas (Hayner quickly texts him  _ I’m ok sorry I’ll tell u about it tmr _ ) - and surprise him with soft words of worry and relief at his health. Rai even makes sure he’s gentle when he gives Hayner his customary clap on the back. 

They leave him with more well wishes, and Seifer’s hand is the next to warm Hayner’s back and he leads him to his truck. Hayner has no interest in arguing, not speaking up until they’re on the road and only quietly lit by the vacant street’s lights. 

“Are we dating?” Hayner asks, before deciding Seifer doesn’t get a choice anymore. Show him for being a cryptic bastard. “Actually, I’ve decided we’re dating. You told me to decide.”

“I told you to  _ figure it out _ .” Seifer makes sure to correct him, eyes watching for traffic as he makes a left turn. 

“Yeah, well, I figured out we’re dating.” Hayner huffs, crossing his arms and pretending he’s a lot more confident in the statement than he actually is. He’s starting to see where all his friends were coming from, and he’s frankly a little annoyed they all clued in before him.

Seifer doesn’t argue and Hayner can actually  _ hear _ the smirk in his voice when he says, “Took you long enough.”

“Does this mean I can stay at your place now?” Hayner asks when he begins to realize the route they’re taking does  _ not _ lead to his house. 

“Only because you have a reason to.”

Hayner just rolls his eyes.

“I had a reason last time, thank you very much, you just didn’t know it.”

“Which was?”

“Secret.”

Seifer whacks him in the chest and Hayner takes the opportunity to grab his hand and hold it there, his heart now speeding up for different reasons. Seifer shoots him an odd look, but at Hayner’s pointed interest in suddenly counting every single sign they passed, his face relaxes.

“You’re such a lamer.” He says softly, his smile fond. Hayner doesn’t reply, but he grins as Seifer laces their fingers together. 

When they make it to Seifer’s apartment, Hayner feels the need to text Rai and inform him of this “new” development. He’s sure the rest of his friends and family already know, which is extremely rude in Hayner’s mind, but the other man just texts back  _????????? ya? _ and Hayner realizes just how late he was in figuring this out.

“How long have we been dating that even Rai knows?” Hayner shouts, spinning on Seifer who smirks at him from his spot on the couch. “High school?!”

“We’ve pretty much been dating since we were kids, but you can pick high school if it makes you feel better.” Seifer replies casually, relaxing into a lounging position that shouldn’t look as cool as it does. Hayner flings the closest pillow he can find at his boyfriend before turning to sulk into his phone. 

“I hate you so much.” He mutters, determined to drown his sorrows in gatcha games. 

“Love you too, babe.” 

Hayner drops his phone. Seifer’s laughter echoes throughout the halls.

* * *

 

Nothing changes when they go back to work, which Hayner finds rather annoying. Seifer still steals his coffee that Hayner had long since started making to Seifer’s taste anyways, and their banter is as riddled with insults as ever. The only thing that’s different is the amount of people patting him on the shoulder and telling him  _ good job _ and Hayner has the sneaking suspicion they’re not talking about him being jumped.

“Did literally  _ everyone  _ but me know that we were dating?” Hayner asks as they make their way to HQ’s entrance, having been given their next mission. 

“Pretty much, yeah. I thought you’d never figure it out.” 

“You could have  _ said something _ .” Hayner grumbles, refusing to take all the blame. Generally, one asked out the object of their affections. With words. Not with… whatever the hell Seifer did. 

“I can’t do everything for you.” Seifer just shrugs and smirks, leaving Hayner to click his tongue in distaste. 

What an asshole. 

They’re at the entrance doors and about to separate, the mission requiring them to scope out two different areas, and Seifer’s going to give him some sort of affectionate whack like the romantic he is, so Hayner decides to take some revenge. As Seifer’s hand moves down, Hayner swiftly moves in and yanks on the other man’s collar, bringing him down for a kiss instead. 

There's three different scandalized sounds that erupt, one of them most likely coming from Seifer, four gasps, and one cheery, drawn out, “Hey!” from Rai. Hayner just grins before pulling away with his own smirk and a wave. 

“See you later, babe.”

(Rai later tells him Seifer stood there for nearly three minutes after Hayner left and Hayner couldn’t have been more pleased.)

**Author's Note:**

> we DID IT. I know there's not a lot of us seiner readers left, but cheers to the three of us still here sdfgh  
> this might be the last instalment for this au, it might not be. we'll see where life takes us. I still wanna get Hayner shot. and also do smth from Seifer's pov. we shall see  
> I really enjoyed writing and re-reading this one, so I hope you like it as well!!  
> Thanks for reading! ;v;


End file.
